The Evolution of Custom Art #2

Today’s update is for “Extraction,” a first-contact / alien invasion novel that I’ll be publishing sometime before the summer (hopefully).

Extraction – rough full scene 01

This is a more detailed scene of the final cover, and I’ll throw up some more images in a second to give you some more idea on how the ‘victims’ on the machine evolved.

Three different ‘techs’ for the alien machine.

Here’s an initial sketch combining all of the different techs used. I’ll put the three individual images below.

This is the ‘machine’ as if it were made with purely human technology.

This is the ‘machine’ as if it were made with alien technology.

This is the ‘machine’ as if it was made with a hybrid of human and alien technology.

Notice the subtle differences in the components, the details of each item are slightly different. I’ve asked Daniel to combine a few elements of each that I like to make a final ‘machine.’

Now here’s a bit on “Diabolus,” which is a story that if I had to make a Hollywood tag line, it would say “Skynet meets The Exorcist.”

A rough sketch of Diabolus’ cover scene.

This is a rough sketch of the final “Diabolus” cover art. There will be changes in it, of course, but this is going to be the major idea Daniel works from.

Diabolus cover art with rough lighting

Same scene as above, but the blue and red represent lighting that Daniel will add as he begins to polish the scene.

And there you have it folks. I’ve always been excited at the prospect of having true custom art, but as I’m watching Daniel put these together and add detail, I’m REALLY excited. Even if these books never sell a single copy, it will have been worth it to have someone as talented as Daniel make something truly my own, exactly how I want it.